Postbellum America makes for a haunting backdrop in this historical and supernatural tale of moonlit cemeteries, masked balls, cunning mediums, and terrifying secrets waiting to be unearthed by an intrepid crime reporter.

Edward Clark is a successful young crime reporter in comfortable circumstances with a lovely, well-connected fiancée. Then an assignment to write a series of exposés on the city’s mediums places all that in jeopardy.

In the Philadelphia of 1869, photographs of Civil War dead adorn dim sitting rooms, and grieving families attempt to contact their lost loved ones. Edward’s investigation of the beautiful young medium Lucy Collins has unintended consequences, however. He uncovers her tricks, but realizes to his dismay that Lucy is more talented at blackmail than she is at a medium’s sleights of hand. And since Edward has a hidden past, he reluctantly agrees that they should collaborate in exposing only her rivals.

The mysterious murder of noted medium Lenora Grimes Pastor as Lucy and Edward attend her séance results in a plum story for Edward—and a great deal more. The pair want to clear themselves from suspicion, but a search spanning the houses of the wealthy to the underside of nineteenth-century Philadelphia unearths a buzzing beehive of past murder, current danger, and supernatural occurrences that cannot be explained…

Review

This is about as close as I get to paranormal. Ghosts, seances, and psychics really fascinate me. This book has all of that and more. With carriage chases, real ghosts and bees (yes! I said bees!), it is a real page turner.

This book is set right after the Civil War and has a lot of history folded into the story. Edward is a reporter with a strange assignment. He needs to write an exposé about Philadelphia’s mediums. This leads him to Lucy Collins. Needless to say, these two have an adventure like no other.

This book is mesmerizing! All the mediums and magic keep the reader engrossed and Edward’s history is a huge plus to the story. There are a few areas in the tale that are a little much. The lives of bees(at least it’s not snakes) tends to go on a little longer than necessary. But, this is a minor issue!

This would make a great movie. As I was reading, I could picture a lot of the scenes on the big screen. Very realistic for a ghost, medium, magic book!